MUCH is being written about the preposterously high cost of college. The median inflation-adjusted household income fell by 7 percent between 2006 and 2011, while the average real tuition at public four-year colleges increased over that period by over 18 percent. Meanwhile, the average tuition for just one year at a four-year private university in 2011 was almost $33,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. College tuition has increased at twice the rate of health care costs over the past 25 years.

Ballooning student loan debt, an impending college bubble, and a return on the bachelors degree that is flat or falling: all these things scream out for entrepreneurial solutions.

One idea gaining currency is the $10,000 college degree  the so-called 10K-B.A.  which apparently was inspired by a challenge to educators from Bill Gates, and has recently led to efforts to make it a reality by governors in Texas, Florida and Wisconsin, as well as by a state assemblyman in California.

Most 10K-B.A. proposals rethink the costliest part of higher education  the traditional classroom teaching. Predictably, this means a reliance on online and distance-learning alternatives. And just as predictably, this has stimulated antibodies to unconventional modes of learning. Some critics see it as an invitation to charlatans and diploma mills. Even supporters often suggest that this is just an idea to give poor people marginally better life opportunities.

As Darryl Tippens, the provost of Pepperdine University, recently put it, No PowerPoint presentation or elegant online lecture can make up for the surprise, the frisson, the spontaneous give-and-take of a spirited, open-ended dialogue with another person. And what happens when you excise those frissons? In the words of the president of one university faculty association, Youre going to be awarding degrees that are worthless to people.

I don’t see this happening much, because it will interrupt the “Big Education” cycle which liberals use to channel huge amounts of borrowed money to the Democrat party via contributions from overpaid profs and admins.

On a positive note, I read today that law school applications are down drastically since the average grad had $100 grand in debt and less than a 50% chance of getting a lawyer job.

If universities simply went back to their management style of 50 years ago, they could probably cut costs by at least half. Universities of full of administrators, full of bureaucrats, and facilities are often gold-plated. Universities are full of worthless teachers and courses, and full of unions. There is no real pressure to contain costs.

Most of those who oppose online education push one main point - interaction with the other students and teachers. From their viewpoint, it is not possible to have a viable discourse in the classroom virtually.

I disagree. I to the online route to get my degree from Colorado Technical University. Twice a week we “met” in the virtual class room where the teacher lead the discussion and students responded to the teacher and to other students via chat. It worked well for us. I assume that is because most of the students were at least somewhat technically savvy and already had developed communication skills around chat like services.

i agree. if someone has the desire and determination they can learn online. kike working from home, which i do, some people can and some people can’t/ personally i can eliminate all distractions when i work. when i build models or do something hobby related i find i have a loty of distractions keeping me from starting and my clubs have day long workshops wherewe can interact and build without the usual household distractions.

many of the college kids who couldn’t do the work online probably aren’t that focused at school in a classroom anyway. besides how personal is it in a 300 person intro bio class in an auditorium taught by an undergrad?

7
posted on 02/01/2013 9:53:01 AM PST
by bravo whiskey
(People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.)

My most important intellectual and career move was taking a Boeing COBOL/IMS course in 1982 for $2,100.

It eventually led to a $125 an hour programming job by the turn of the century. And the stops along the way were not bad either. Oh, and the first programming job right out of school was just under $7 an hour.

It was 1983. It would be about $15 today, based on whatever formula they are using, which may be bogus. It is saying things have just over doubled. But I was only paying $.85 for gas then, but a crappy PC would have cost about $4,500.

Do you recommed CTU? My son is looking for an on-line university to take classes with . What do you think? Is it worth the $300-per-credit-hour?
That seems a pretty high cost to me. Is that the going rate?

So the short answer is ... it was worth it to me because I was reimbursed from my work via a tuition assistance program. Would I pay that out of pocket .... mmm, not sure I can say yes. Understand that I have 20+ years post high school, top of my field, patents, etc. I graduated 4.0 and did not find it very challenging. I was going back to fill in the paper work so to speak. I knew how to play the game and already had strong typing, writing and computer skills. Others that I took classes with did struggle so I know that the material was NOT just fluff. Also, I was taking it at the associate level (100 to 200 level classes). The work might get harder in the upper division classes.

One of the common complaints that I here about CTU is the sheer volume of papers that you have to write. Full college papers with APA citations and all. The joke is that unless you write 4 papers per class, you are not working hard enough. The second complaint is the amount of reading that you have to do. I guess those are common to all schools. Since I took typing in HS and I am a speed reader, this does not bother me.

My choices for college are limited by my works requirement for travel. That leaves me with only on-line as a viable option. So a traditional / campus based program will not work for me. I did some research before I started and found that most universities that offer on-line and are accredited charge about $300, give our take $75 dollars.

University of Denver was $989 per hr traditional resident
University of Colorado was $428 per hr traditional resident
Front Range Community College was $175 per hr traditional resident
Front Range Community College was $261 per hr on-line resident

So, the $300 is more than a community college, less than state live in. Middle ground if you ask me.

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